Help needed with meal ideas

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I need help with meals. Rapidly running out of ideas and sick of chicken risotto and tinned beef stew.

Allergies in family - nuts, sesame, mushrooms, pineapple, fish, cows milk.

Husband won't eat carrots.

Son won't eat swede or pasta or raw tomatoes

No-one will eat offal of any animal.

Very difficult to get any decent meat here. There is no high street butcher only tesco 7 miles away, meat is often bad well before sell by date. I had to throw out chicken breasts last week that had 4 days to run because it was green and smelly! I gave up buying red meat there 2 years ago and have now decided not to buy any meat there now as I keep having to throw it out. It is a 14 mile round trip so not worth taking it back half the time anyway.

We are living off tinned chicken and beef at the moment whilst I try to find a decent butcher. Been thinking about buying in a half lamb from the farm butcher 15 miles away and freezing it.

I just need some ideas. I tried meal planning but as I only have 4 meals they will eat, I get a bit stuck.

Son is starving when he comes in from school at 3.30/4pm so wants his dinner then. Hubby only eats at 6pm when he gets home.

If I feed son a snack at hometime he won't eat his dinner at 6pm. Both are overweight and I feel guilty about it.

Wow, tough one. i'll have to think about this and get back to you, but I didn't want your post to go unanswered so am bumping while I think in case anyone else has any ideas.

When I was little and we had no cash I remember Mum used to make lots of things with lentils, can the family eat those? And I used to love (still do really) "cheese and potato pie" which was basically mashed potato with cheese melted through it, sometimes with sweetcorn and fried onion in it too. To make it more pie-like she would grate more cheese on top, and put it under the grill. Mmmm, lovely with a nice salad

Are you looking for veggie type meals? I could link you to my blog if you like, it has a lot of recipe son it, not sure if they will be what you are looking for though.

BlackAffronted what is the link to your blog?

I think you should definitely find a butcher and freeze as much as possible. It just means a bit more advance planning to ensure your meat is defrosted.

Do you have a slow cooker? Cheaper cuts of lamb and beef are great done in the slow cooker - loads of threads on here with recipes.

I find a small sandwich at 3.30pm good for the DC if we aren't eating until 6pm.

Will they eat mince? You can freeze minced beef raw then cook a bolognese or similar for cottage pie or jacket pots with bolognese etc

I would recommend veggie maybe 3 or 4 times pw - we have simple stuff like dippy eggs/omelette, pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan, pizza, quesadillas etc.

Will you 'near' farm deliver if you do a big order? Have you got a farmer's market near you who you can contact, and see whether or not they have a list of farmers who would deliver for a big order?

Maybe you could eat a bit later, at 7pm, and give your son a snack when he gets in (apple, bananas, grapes)?

How are you with making soups? Just thinking you could easily knock up a batch of soup such as leek and potato on a Sunday and freeze individual portions so that your son can have a bowl of that when he gets in at 3 which would keep him going until your husband gets back at 7.

How about some pies? I was just thinking that some pies might be the way to go with your tinned meats. Bought shortcrust or puff are good but you might find you want to make it if you have the time. You could use the tinned beef with some vegetables, make up an onion gravy, and serve with jacket potatoes and broccoli/peas/yourchoicehere.

Gety a slow cooker, not just for stews but to roast meat in.

Have you tried a raclette? It's a kind of table top BBQ with little pans you can melt cheese in or cook omellettes. Just have some meat and some slices of veg, some boiled new potatoes and slices of cheese and let everyone cook theor own meal, when you have finnished you feel stuffed byt have not eaten that much.

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4263630.htm

Passattta - sieved tomatoes. Put chicken thighs, sausages or pork ribs in a slow cooker. Add some chopped salami/ chorizo. Open a tin of butter or kidney beans and add them. Season, add a packet of passatta and top with boiling water. Serve with crusty bread.

Beans on toast? With bacon and or cheese (not sure with the milk alergy about the cheese).

Pancakes or yorkshire pudding- made with soya milk.

Onee for when you are angry. Chicken breasts - one per person. Put between cling film and bash away with a rolling pin. You can now either wrap the chicken brest around a stuffing (mozzorella is good or even packet stuffing) fasten with a cocktail stick and wrap bacon / pancetta around it - bake fo 20-30 mins.

OR

use the thin chickenn to line ramekins and fill them with cheese / stuffing and bake.

Take a large baking tray - and put chopped root veg in, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20 - 30 mins. You can add honey if you like something sweeter.

Corned beef hash or toad in the hole?